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New pixel art

Well. As stated in my previous thread, I quit pixel art.
However, this is untrue.
This is the initial version open for critique so I can improve it!
![](http://i46.tinypic.com/axlrp.png)
Criticism is welcome!
Updated.

I like it, you could post it on the PoP thread if you want… it’s on the second page. xD
The sand and barrel looks weird to me too, following Graphic’s mask point. Especially the left of the sand on the bottom, because it’s like a gradient.

Yeah, I was worried about the sand. I shouldn’t have used low-contrast shades, that’s what makes it look so silky now. The barrel isn’t done yet, since I really couldn’t get myself to work on it. xD I like it so far though, what looks weird about it?

Welcome back to pixel art HolyQuacamole, nice work.
The lenses of the gasmask blend in too much with the white background here, other than that the spear/lance draws attention as it looks like it barely fits in the barrel(if straight, hard to assume it is bent), and most likely should be outside.
I like the coloring, and the sands appearing grainier on top, and more settled/smoother down below. Thanks for sharing your art.

Again, thank you!
I know about the spearthing, it’s one of the things I did on purpose because I like the idea that it would bug people to not know if it’s bent or just short. xD
And it’s a WIP, so the sand will be grainier at the bottom as well… But now you mention it, smoother might be an idea.

Nice! I would stick with the spear and sand as is. I just wanted to make a comment about both. You even have the green on the barrel reflecting more light than the red. There’s a lot to like about this picture. Nice work HolyQuacamole.

To be honest while Jesse and what he said is kind, I’m not one to give any sense of false hope. I feel this piece can easily be improved, just like any other piece. For example, the reflection of the barrel REALLY takes away from the rest of the piece, it’s an obvious focal point, the thing is though, people should be more interested in the mask than the barrel, because that’s the more interesting part of the piece itself. Try adding a light grey tone to the white on the barrel and see how that goes, you might even shoot for a really light green (Greenish-white) so it holds its reflective properties better.
I’m not going to fill you with sugar so you stop working on this because it’s not completely perfect, it needs work, it looks _nice_ as is, but it shouldn’t have so many shading flaws to point out. As I said it doesn’t look bad right now, and it’s passable as decent, but there can be improvements made.

Oh I know it’s flawed, and don’t think I stopped working on this.
The greenish white doesn’t work, I’ve tried it. I’ll try the grey tone.
The shading is well… Only temporary, actually. Just so people could tell me what to do to improve it. I’m also adding lots more detail in the form of rust on the barrel and grain in the sand.
Also, no one’s said anything about the highlight on the headphones. Please help me with that, I have no idea what shade to use. And, tell me, more contrast for the shades on the sand, or keep it as it is?

I definitely like the highlight on the barrel a lot better now. In regards to the highlights on the headphones, I’m not really sure. All I can really tell you on that is the colors seem a little bright and there aren’t _enough_ colors used. Because your sand it has a lot of detail with the dithering, the barrel has a similar amount of shading. However it appears that the headphones only have around 3 color tones, try doing around 5 on it to give it some more depth. Also I can’t emphasize enough that you should really try to change the mask around, it just seems ‘flabby’ and the fact that it has cracks because the spike is going through it is confusing to me. It makes it seem as if it’s hard but it is saying it’s not hard because of the way you have the ridges shaded, just looks funny to me.
Another thing I’d like to point out is the spike itself. The way it’s going into the sand looks as if it should be poking out of the side of the barrel, it appears to be really ‘shortened’, I hope you can understand what I am trying to say. It just seems like it should either be at a different angle, or you should make it stick out of the sides of the barrel. (Perhaps put some rust around the edges coming off the spike?
I’d also like to point out that you have an element of physics in your image (The sand falling out of the mask), so perhaps you should have the sand dripping over the sides of the barrel a bit more, and have the sand on the ridges have small grains coming off of that as well, so it appears as if it’s slowly trickling down. Since I am already talking about the ridges on the barrel I will just say that they need to be more defined as well, they look sort of empty. You can tell that they are ridges, but they just don’t ‘pop’ as much if you know what I mean. Because the sand on the side of the barrel has depth, and you can tell it’s stopping on those ridges, however the ridges don’t have an equal or greater amount of depth than the sand on the side does. So it doesn’t make sense in my head. That’s about all I can point out at the moment.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. About the spike, I wasn’t willing to change it because I, as I previously said to someone else, don’t want to follow realism in this piece, so wondering where the spike’s coming from is part of that.
About the mask, I was going to change it but I didn’t have time up till now, so you’ll see what I’ve done to it in a few days, probably.
And the ridges on the barrel aren’t shaded, that’s probably why they seem so flat. And the rest of the tips I will also follow, but I don’t have time for a big reply.
Thanks again.

It’s looking too different but it is so doubtful, how is this possible, there is too much sand is falling from the little skull or whatever it is. and the sand is not falling to their size and nature in a flow, it’s falling like a sticky liquid.

Thanks Ramos.
Philip, I take it you didn’t see it’s a gasmask? And I don’t think there is too much sand falling from it.
I can see you point about the sticky liquid part but I don’t see you giving advice on how to change it, which would be helpful.
Thanks for the criticism though (even though I don’t get the first sentence.)